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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24141703">The Vulture Hunt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordCaptainCommanderDunn/pseuds/LordCaptainCommanderDunn'>LordCaptainCommanderDunn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:15:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,371</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24141703</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordCaptainCommanderDunn/pseuds/LordCaptainCommanderDunn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Savage Sam Tarley and his part in The Vulture Hunt</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Vulture Hunt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The scout rode through the army camp to the command tent, the letter clutched in his hand. "MILORD!" he shouted, "Orys baratheon has smashed the dornish beneath the walls of Stonehelm! And the vulture king is coming toward us!"<br/>
turning slowly, Savage Sam tarly casually wiped his hands and placed the skinning knife on the table. he'd been cleaning a set of pheasants, but he would soon be feasting on vulture meat</p><p>Casually, Sam pulled off his apron and carefully set it aside so he could take care of cleaning it later. If a man had to do something, he might as well do it right.<br/>
"Ser Paxter," he remarked, "get the men ready to march, the enemy is coming up the road, it seems as though our enemy has seen the error of attacking nightsong and is coming for a party<br/>
Slowly, he cracked his knuckles then began pulling on his armor. "I will lead the van, set up the knights in front of the archers. I want to soften the bastard dornishmen up before i slam into them with the full force of the cavalry."</p><p>Ser paxter nodded, then rushed off to carry out his orders. Sam grinned as he took heartsbane from it's stand and strapped it across his back. he didn't need to test the edge of his prized weapon, Valyrian steel was always sharp. Still grinning like a maiden preparing for her first ball, Sam strode out of his tent and walked toward his horse.<br/>
"You ready for a hunt men!"<br/>
the tarley soldiers cheered and thrust their weapons in the air. "You ready to kill some filthy dornish goats!" Sam roared</p><p>As they set off, sam felt like he could almost taste the battle to come. Based on his scout reports, the dornishmen were a bunch of ragged spearmen, no disipline, no backbone. As he marched, another pair of messengers rode to him from where they'd been scouting along a set of goat paths.<br/>
"Milord! Lords Dondarrion and Caron are marching behind the enemy, they're going to attack them from the rear!'<br/>
Sam's mouth quirked into a vicious smile. "Well it seems as though our guests are quite eager for the party boys!" he shouted, reaching behind his back and drawing heartsbane.</p><p>"Archers! Form up along the passage!" Ser Paxter shouted as Sam lead the cavalry forward. "Soften the bastards up for Savage Sam to smash them!"<br/>
Sam laughed raucously as he raised his sword. "Come on, men!" he shouted, "Seven send that I find the bloody vulture! my table deserves only the choicest of meat, the head bird himself!"<br/>
"Charge!" he roared, spurring his horse forward as his knights galloped behind him. The dornishmen yelled and tried forming up, but they'd been expecting him to wait behind his walls. Stupid prey, a true hunter did not wait in a shelter for the bird to fly, he throws a stone into the bushes to force them out.<br/>
Cries from behind the dornish announced the coming of lords dondarrion and Caron coming straight for them. They were surrounded, and even though they were twice the number of all three of the lords combined, they were a rabble.</p><p>Archers from above and in front of the dornish fired, shafts slamming into the spearmen and weakening the line drastically. Several men began running as the knights thundered toward them, but it was too late. Bellowing, the two fists of armored knights crashed into the dornishmen, cutting through their ranks like a knife through silk.<br/>
Heartsbane felt like a leaf in sam's hand as he slashed here and there with brutal savagery, the ancient spell forged blade cutting through metal flesh and bone with equal impartiality. One dornishman managed to get a lucky blow in on sam's horse causing him to fall to the ground</p><p>Bellowing, Sam pushed himself to his feet and swung wildly, warding off several of his attackers. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" he roared, slashing through the man who'd slain his destrier. he'd have to replace the animal now, bloody difficult to do considering he'd spent years breeding it for war.<br/>
The men tried to overwhelm him, but sam was in his element and they were just a rabble<br/>
Laughing, he cut poxridden dornishman after poxridden dornishman down<br/>
heartsbane ran red from hilt to point as Sam cut through the enemy. As he brutally hacked his way through the dornish, Sam's knights and the onrushing infantry closed in, causing the enemy to break and scatter. Eventually, there was very little left but a few wounded stragglers.</p><p>Laughing with joy, Sam pulled out a hankerchief and wiped his sweaty face. "Where is this vulture king i've heard so much about!" he asked.<br/>
"He's not among the wounded or dead milord!" one of the men shouted.<br/>
"Well then!" Sam laughed and rested heartsbane against his shoudler. "What say you to a vulture hunt boys!"<br/>
The men cheered and the knights formed up. Paxter brought up sam's spare horse for him to mount, which made Sam happy that he wouldn't be trudging around on foot<br/>
Lord Dondarrion rode up to them, a wooden nose where his flesh one had once rested. before the vulture king had chopped it off.<br/>
"Glad you could make it, lord tarley!" Dondarrion remarked, voice slightly askew from the lack of an actual nose.<br/>
Sam grimaced at the sight of his old friend's mutilated face.<br/>
The vulture king would pay for this. "As i said," he bellowed, "my table deserves the best of meat. Let's get this bastard vulture!"<br/>
he clapped dondarrion on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find him old friend," he laughed. "he can't run far."<br/>
Dondarrion's smile was icy. "Oh of that, i have no doubt!"</p><p>"No prisoners!" Sam roared, raising his blood soaked sword above his head. "Except the vulture! Bring him to me alive!"<br/>
And then the dornishmen began to die<br/>
Archers poured arrows into them, the knights rode or cut them down. over and over they found them, and they killed them. And still the vulture eluded them. for a couple hours.<br/>
After hours of slaughter, Sam had the vulture king, a frenzied looking man with dornish skin and long black hair. "So, what's to be this man's punishment?" he wondered, resting both hands on heartsbane's pommel as he looked down at his prisoner.<br/>
Dondarrion glared venomous hate at his tormentor, eyes filled with murder.</p><p>"Chop his head off!" Lord Carron declared. While others said, "Pincushion the bastard!" "Hang him!"<br/>
Finally, Sam stood up, slowly running a cloth over his sword's blade, wiping the blood clean. "I say that this man's punishment should suit his name," he remarked, "why not have the vultures he loves so much be his judges."</p><p>He nodded to his men, "take him outside and stake him between two posts," he grinned savagely, "and then drench him in the blood of his men. don't be too gentle now. Let's show these dornish bastards what happens when they enter the reach."<br/>
The vuture king screamed as the reachmen tied him between to posts and several men began drenching him in blood and dropping bits of corpses onto him. Everyone backed away from the yowling victim as he struggled vainly against his bonds.<br/>
The screaming intensified as the vultures began flying down on the vulture, and then they began feeding. first on the bits of corpses splashed over him, and then on the vulture king himself.<br/>
The screaming lasted a few hours, but still the man thrashed as the birds kept pecking at his body. Eventually, he stopped moving, and the birds kept on eating.</p><p>Once the vulture king stopped moving, Sam turned to his men and thrust his sword into the air. "TO HORN HILL!" He declared, "WE FEAST ON STAG AND BOAR TOMORROW NIGHT!"<br/>
"SAVAGE SAM TARLY!" The men cheered, "TARLY! TARLEY! THE HUNTSMAN!" lesser cries of dondarrion and Caron, but they were overwhelmed by the roars of house tarley men. The ride back to horn hill was full of jesting and mild drinking, but it wasn't so cheerful for the dornishmen's bodies placed at intervals along the passage, if any dornish came, then they would see that House Tarley had fashioned a second boneway.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you liked what i've written here, please check out my published works at https://www.amazon.com/B-Malachi-Dunn/s?k=B.+Malachi+Dunn</p></blockquote></div></div>
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